nerak_logo_CMYKNerak have recently completed the successful installation of another tote conveying system for the John Lewis Store’s ‘Click and Collect” initiative, this time at their store at the Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow.

In the last eighteen months Nerak has now designed four tote conveyor systems for the John Lewis Group; at Peter Jones store in Sloane Square, John Lewis store in Milton Keynes, with the first design and installation being made at their flagship store in Oxford Street, which to some extent became the concept solution model for those that followed.

Like all Nerak projects The Oxford Street project began with an understanding of the needs of the client, which in this case focused on the changes in the goods management systems that the store would be requiring due to the introduction of a Click and Collect service for its customers.

As Mr Ted Weager Operations manager (technical) at John Lewis commented “It wasn’t going to be an easy project, we needed to be able to move goods that our customers had ordered on-line from the third, second and first floors of the building to the customer collection point on the ground floor, we really needed to find a practical solution”.

The company also needed assuring that goods wouldn’t be damaged in the transfer – and that the process of conveying the merchandise would be as quick as possible, with the system also being able to handle a large throughput of tote containers.

In response Nerak produced a design specification that took into consideration all the wants and needs of the John Lewis design brief, from this Nerak were then able to design and engineer an integrated vertical and horizontal conveying system which would provide the perfect solution for what to some, may well have been a difficult project to undertake.

At the core of the system is the Nerak KH253AL Elevator, a rapid reciprocating hoist fed by powered belt conveyors on each of the three floors and discharging onto gravity roller conveyors in the collection area on the ground floor. Additional powered belt conveyors on the ground floor again feed the rapid reciprocating hoist for the quick return transfer of the tote boxes back to the upper floors. With conveyor speeds of 0.8m/s and a rapid lift speed of 1.5m/s the system was designed to move 429 totes per hour from the third floor, 568 from the second floor and nearly 850 totes per hour from the first floor. The Nerak KH253AL Elevator is built from high grade aluminium component parts and clad with a ‘bolt on’ aluminium mesh, which along with a interlocking removable door provides easy access for all and any planned maintenance.

“What Nerak provided was an excellent response to the trust we placed in them to deliver the perfect solution, elegant and highly practical” said Mr Ted Weager.

“It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to work with one of the world’s most prestigious high street brands, the opportunity of working with such professional people is an experience that everybody in Nerak is enjoying”. Said Huw Watkins, Managing Director, “but in fact our approach to all the projects we get involved with is exactly the same; understand what the client’s wants and needs are and then provide a well designed and engineered solution which we hope exceeds their expectations.”

For more information about the Nerak rapid reciprocating hoist, or if you’d just like the opportunity to discuss a project, then please contact Nerak’s Business Development Director Simon Musgrave, by telephone 01874 612 900, or by email, simon.musgrave@nerak-uk.com

Comments are closed.